Are health manifestos a tonic for service revival?

For many people, the problems in the health service are well-known and the various solutions have been rehearsed ad nauseum.

But it has essentially meant that there are no fundamental differences in health policies - which makes this election a bit different.Because Sláintecare is agreed as the grand plan, in this election campaign health manifestos differ less on the big things.Sláintecare was published in May 2017 and concern has been expressed that it is already behind in terms of implementation.

Fianna Fáil says it will spend a "prudent" extra €2 billion on health for new and expanded services, by the end of the next five years. It says it will appoint 1,000 more consultants and end pay inequality for specialists appointed after 2012.People can confuse primary care with general practice - primary care is a much bigger issue beyond GPs, and includes primary care services, other community staff as well medical cards and drugs budgets.

The number of extra consultants appointed was 328 and there were 2,008 more nurses, according to Department of Health figures.Many structural reforms have been tried over the years, amidst some criticism that the health service is built too much around staff needs and work practices, rather than the patient's needs.

How soon that might realistically be delivered is a big question - even the NHS in Britain is finding such a target for patients to be seen, admitted, discharged or transferred as very challenging.All parties are behind the Dr Gabriel Scally and RCOG report recommendations. Overall, the Sinn Féin proposals would see an extra €4.5 billion for health in day-to-day spending over the next five years.While hospital services attract a lot of attention, primary and community care is also very important in terms of keeping patients out of hospitals.

The party also says it would do a comparative spending analysis on acute and non-acute spending in the various regions. The party have also committed to making mental health a priority, increasing the current 6% spend of the health budget on it, to 10%.

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